Author: Serkadis

Just so you’d know, if you’ve been waiting to get your hands on White Knight Chronicles, you’d want to make room for some 2.8GB worth of data. Yes, the game needs an HDD install.
 
 
 

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Adjustable-Rate Mortgages Losing Ground – CARRIE BAY –  … An annual report on the ARM market published by Freddie Mac Tuesday shows adjustable-rate mortgages accounted for just 3 percent of all conventional home purchase loans in 2009. That’s the smallest piece of the pie for ARMs since at least 1982. At that time, information from the Federal Housing Finance Agency shows they made up 62 percent of all new mortgages. … – DS News
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Freddie Mac Releases 26th Annual ARM Survey Results – Press Release at Freddie Mac
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F.H.A. to Raise Standards for Mortgage Insurance – By DAVID STREITFELD – … Borrowers who get an F.H.A.-insured loan will soon have to pay a higher initial insurance premium. The new premium will be 2.25 percent of the value of the loan, up from 1.75 percent. … Starting this summer, sellers will not be able to offer as much help to buyers to pay their closing costs. The maximum amount of assistance will drop to 3 percent of the value of the property, from the current 6 percent. … – NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/business/20home.html?ref=business

Treasury Weighs Fixes to Foreclosures Program – By PETER S. GOODMAN – The Obama administration plans next week to revamp its $75 billion program aimed at sparing homeowners from foreclosure, streamlining the documents required of borrowers seeking lowered payments, according to financial industry executives and others who have met in recent days with Treasury officials. … The changes by the Treasury Department are expected to include greater assistance for homeowners no longer able to make mortgage payments because their paychecks have shrunk, said banking industry representatives privy to the department’s deliberations … – NY Times

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Orange County: Home-price gains end ‘09 near 4-year high – Orange County home pricing, as measured by DataQuick’s monthly median selling price, finished 2009 at $435,000 — the highest in 15 months and up 9.6% from a year ago, fastest appreciation since April 2006. – OC Register

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The Power of a Tax Credit Near Expiration – John Burns – $8,000 is a powerful incentive for home buyers who are buying their first home, especially when half of the homes in the country are trading at below $172,000.  However, we are also a nation of procrastinators, so the tax credit is really only effective as it nears expiration. – John Burns Real Estate Consulting – Advisor Perspectives 
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FHA Boosts Insurance Premiums to Cushion Defaults – By: Diana Olick – CNBC Real Estate Reporter – In a move to shore up the FHA’s beleaguered balance sheet, Commissioner David Stevens on Wednesday announced big changes at the government mortgage insurer that now backs about half of all home loans to the nation’s minorities 
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video: Warren Buffett: We Need 13-Year Olds To Start Cohabitating To Clean Up The Housing Overhang – William Wei –  Clusterstock at Business Insider

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Is There Any Viability Left In The Jumbo Mortgage Market? – BY PHIL HALL – REQUIRED READING: When it comes to jumbo mortgages, Jim Deitch is marching to the proverbial different drum.  “We are originating jumbo product,” says Deitch, CEO of American Home Bank in Mountville, Pa. “It is about 10 to 15 percent of our production.”  But Deitch’s bank is the exception to the rule. … The National Association of Realtors (NAR) estimates that the national share of home sales above $750,000 is approximately 2.3% for 2009, down from 4.4% in 2007. … – hattip Ira Artman – MortgageOrb

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Reviving Down-Payment-Assistance Program Faces FHA Opposition – By James Sterngold (Bloomberg) – … A bill introduced by U.S. Representative Al Green, a Texas Democrat, and supported by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, would restart a program that allowed nonprofit groups to donate the 3 percent down payment low-income buyers needed to get FHA-insured mortgages. Sellers, often homebuilders, then contributed that amount, plus a fee, to the nonprofits. … Those mortgages have soured at about three times the rate of other FHA-backed loans, according to agency data. …  – BusinessWeek 

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State Regulators Warn Of Failing Foreclosure Prevention Efforts – Shahien Nasiripour –  … “More troubling, more than 70 percent of modifications result in an increase in the principal amount owed,” according to the report by the State Foreclosure Prevention Working Group … – Huffington Post
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Two Housing Indicators I Watch – Casey Mulligan – The PPI for housing is a proxy for housing construction costs, which are an important determinant of housing prices. The December data released this morning suggests that the gentle upward trend continues. … – Supply and Demand, In That Order

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Rapid Deterioration Leads Moody’s to Increase Loss Projections for Prime Jumbo RMBS – Losses on 2008 vintage to exceed 12% as future loss severity averages 50%. – Research Recap
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Many are rejecting loan modifications – Homeowners are opting to flee rather than accept loan modifications that might still leave them underwater on their mortgages. BY KIMBERLY MILLER – PALM BEACH POST – Desperate homeowners scrambling to get a loan modification through federal foreclosure relief programs are beginning to shun the offer, opting for a strictly business approach to the dilemma — walking away….  `What motivation is there for a homeowner to pay a mortgage that is three times more than the property is worth?” said real estate attorney Rashmi Airan-Pace, whose Coral Gables firm Airan2, Airan-Pace and Crosa specializes in foreclosure defense. … – Miami Herald

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great article – Is Change Coming to GSE Mortgage Servicing? – by AUSTIN KILGORE – … According to sources, so-called ‘performing servicers’ would continue to get paid via a traditional servicing strip arrangement. ‘Non-performing servicers’ would receive a smaller servicing fee, but would be eligible to receive more substantial cash incentives each time a delinquent loan reperforms, or if other loss mitigation efforts (such as a short sale or deed-in-lieu) succeed. … – HousingWire
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Long Term Care, Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts, and Reverse Mortgages – by Jim Veale – thoughtful article – Reverse Mortgage Daily

WAPO: Reverse Mortgage Market Has No Resemblance to Subprime Marketplace – Washington Post contributor Jack Guttentag writes in his latest column that Reverse mortgages are not the next subprime.  He adds that:  “For reasons not clear to me, reverse mortgages are being bad-mouthed by an unlikely source: consumer groups that are supposed to represent the interest of consumers in general, and seniors in particular.” … – Reverse Mortgage Daily

The recently-appointed "permanent" GM CEO Edward Whitacre said Saab’s situation is still uncertain so the US-based manufacturer will continue winding down the brand. Whitacre confirmed that GM has not reached a deal with the involved parties, despite reports that the company is close to reaching an agreement with Dutch carmaker Spyker as soon as this week.

However, GM’s CEO confirmed that Spyker is currently involved in deep takeover talks, without mentioning whether Genii Capital, … (read more)

American manufacturer Ford announced yesterday the fifth year of production for the smallest car in its lineup, the Ka, and the arrival of a revised version of the car, complete with new Individual variants. The new Ka will come in four redesigned trim levels, namely Studio, Edge, Zetec and the all-new Titanium. The entry level Ka is the Studio, which brings the same equipment levels as in previous years, but adds new rear head restraints.

The Ka Edge, which replaces the Style trim level, ad… (read more)

The Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA) just revealed its 2010 Electric Drive Action Plan for Energy Security, detailing a comprehensive strategy to accelerate the growth of hybrid, plug-in, battery and fuel cell vehicles in the U.S. and therefore achieving a national fleet of electric vehicles.

"EDTA is calling upon Congress and the Administration to ‘push the pedal’ to keep the U.S. on the electric drive fast track," EDTA President Brian Wynne said in a release. &quot… (read more)

Hertz, world leader in the public car rental business, has developed a new 0 emissions program, releasing UK’s lowest cost electric club car in the London Borough of Camden.

Connect by Hertz, the company’s global car sharing club now offers a Citroen C1 evie, powered exclusively by electric energy. The vehicle is produced by the British Electric Car Corporation and will be available at Lincolns Inn Fields for 3 pounds per hour. It can be charged free of cost at charging stations in Camden fo… (read more)

Although it was recently reported that McLaren Mercedes appointed its former test driver Gary Paffett for the first day of testing in Valencia, the British driver might not get the test/reserve driver seat within the Woking organization after all.

According to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, it seems McLaren Mercedes now considers Nick Heidfeld as their potential test/reserve driver for the 2010 team. Present at Mercedes GP’s car launch event at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, McLaren … (read more)

Power failure poses no threat to University emergency plan

Last week’s power outage, while inconveniencing many, also provided a test for Stanford’s emergency response routines.

University life was placed on a brief standby when a Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) Company high-voltage transmission line failed at approximately 5:20 a.m. Tuesday morning and triggered a power outage across the central campus. Responders did not correct the problem until approximately 10 a.m. that morning.

The transmission line failure also caused Stanford’s Energy Facility, also known as Cardinal Cogen, to shut down, resulting in a blackout in some campus residences. As a result, all card-activated doors in the affected Wilbur, Stern and Crothers residences were rendered functionless during that period.

This, however, did not pose a significant problem for a well-prepared emergency response team.

“In the case of a power outage, such as occurred last Tuesday, the building access systems in place on many of our large residences are supported by independent battery back-up systems,” wrote Executive Director of Student Housing Rodger Whitney in an e-mail to The Daily. “These batteries keep the card readers functioning normally for approximately four hours without electricity. In a few places, where the power had failed earlier in the morning, the readers did go out before the power was restored. In those situations, Student Housing posted notices alerting residents needing to enter the buildings that they should use the main entrance, and had someone stationed at each of those doors to let people in.

“In the case of an emergency in a building without card access, the first responders (Fire, Police) gain access via a special (physical) key,” Whitney added.

Cardinal Cogen also supplies the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and the Stanford Hospital with chilled water for cooling electrical equipment and computers, and steam for sterilizing instruments. But Cogen was shortly restored, and Stanford resumed supplying steam and chilled water shortly thereafter.

“When I came to work at 8 o’clock, we were at full power,” said Robert Dicks, senior media relations manager at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital.

The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, which gets its power directly from the PG&E line, remained without power until Tuesday evening. As such, the University generators provided SLAC with electricity until power was restored.

“The electricity affects us differently and that’s because of the linear accelerator, which uses quite a bit of electricity,” said Robert Brown, director of communications at SLAC.

Because of this, staff at SLAC are currently working on an “after-action” report to document what they’ve learned and devise a strategy for dealing with future crises.

Whitney added that because power outages like last Tuesday’s have widespread consequences across the campus, they receive a rapid response.

“The campus power system supports not only Student Housing, but also the entire academic campus (with labs containing sensitive experiments, classrooms without natural light, etc.), so any time there is a power outage, significant efforts are put into getting the situation resolved as soon as possible,” Whitney said.“It is not often that we lose power from the Cardinal Cogen plant, and when a problem does develop, it is usually resolved quickly.”

Though getting things greener has been done in a lot of ways, people are still thinking outside the box and coming up with new ways to solve problems. One of the best examples is the effort of Energetek Inc, a company which worked together with Philippine’s Ministry of Transportation in order to perfect a CNG Lite system for small vehicles. And when we say small vehicles, we actually mean tricycles.

The alliance has finished a road test that started in mid-2009, which consisted of driving in … (read more)

Truck manufacturer PACCAR announced today it is gearing up to provide a new engine for its line of Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks later this year. Dubbed MX, the new power unit will be available with power outputs ranging from 380hp to 485hp and torque outputs reaching as much as 1,750 lb-ft.

The PACCAR MX engine uses Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) in combination with exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) to meet the EPA 2010 diesel engine emissions regulations. It was built, PACCAR says, to p… (read more)

Well, it seems the LG Apollo is not the only one with completely unbelievable specs.  Chinese site QQ.com has posted what they believe is the specs of the HTC HD3, and some of them, particularly the screen size and resolution, seem frankly unbelievable. At 4.5 inches and 1280×800 the screen would be more than 720p, which makes it rather useful that the 1.5 Ghz Snapdragon powered device also comes with HDMI out.

On the other hand, upgrades like WIndows Mobile 7, 8 Megapixel Xenon flash and even the purported 4G support would seem almost mandatory.  Both WIMAX and LTE  is pushing it a bit.

Do you believe this is real, given the recent rumours of HTC spoofing? Let us know below.

Via Pocketnow.com

Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref)

To encourage children to explore the mysterious world of their ancient ancestors, the Egyptian Museum in Cairo has opened Egypt’s first-ever children’s Lego museum. Nevine El-Aref recaptures her childhood

A touring exhibition that has been travelling to museums and science centres across the globe has landed a permanent home at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square.

In “Secrets of the Pharaohs”, Egypt’s ancient monuments have been rebuilt in the basement exhibition area of the museum — entirely in Lego.

Scale models of some of the nation’s best-loved ancient buildings have been refashioned in large, colourful Lego bricks and are on display at the cool-lit basement gallery. Here is the Great Sphinx sitting in front of the three Giza Pyramids; here a team of ancient builders construct a temple while artisans decorate its walls and a scribe squats with a sheaf of papers to record the scene. Here is the mask of the boy king Tutankhamun, as well as some of his funerary collection.

The exhibition combines the fun of the famous Lego building blocks that everyone played with as children and the colourful and amazing history of ancient Egypt.

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

General Motors has just announced that it will start building electric motors to be installed in hybrids and electric vehicles, a move that will turn the company into the first US automaker to manufacture this kind of engines. Building electric units would obviously lower GM costs but, at the same time, it will improve performance, quality and reliability, as the company said in a release.

Electric motor innovation supported the first wave of automotive growth a century ago with the electric … (read more)

Heritage Key (Ann Wuyts)

With photos.

Gustave Flaubert – the author of ‘Madame Bovary’ – travelled through Egypt from October 1849 to July 1850. Together with his friend and photographer Maxime Du Camp he journeyed from Alexandria in the North to Sudan in the South and back. This journey is the focus of the exhibition ‘Het Egypte van Gustave Flaubert’ (Gustave Flaubert’s Egypt), which runs at the RMO in Holland until April 4th 2010. The expo follows the famous French writer on his journey through Egypt and takes its visitors from the amazing pyramids at Giza and the sanctuaries at Luxor to the gigantic pharaonic statues at Abu Simbel in the deep south. Through fragments from Flaubert’s letters and diary, unique photographs by Du Camp and about a hundred ancient Egyptian artefacts the exhibition recreates a typical view of Egypt at that time, as seen through the eyes of a European traveller.

Gustave Flaubert‘s travel diary – published as ‘Flaubert in Egypt‘ – gives a detailed account of his journey through Egypt. His travelling companion Du Camp took many exquisite photographs of the monuments and excavations they visited together, at that time not yet crowded with tourists and still partly hidden under the sand.

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

The North American division of Porsche yesterday announced the 2010 Porsche 911 Turbo will go on sale on January 30 at its US dealers, just three months after the debut of the Panamera. The new 911 Turbo will be more powerful and more efficient, as it comes with 20 more horsepower and a 13 percent increase in fuel economy.

Getting straight to the point, prices for the 2010 Turbo Coupe and Turbo Cabriolet have been set at $132,800 and $143,800, respectively.

"We are very excited to wel… (read more)

Heritage Key (Malcolm Jack)

For almost 500 years – from the 16th to 11th century BC – tombs, many of the elaborate and ornate, were constructed in the Valley of the Kings for the rulers and powerful nobles of the Egyptian New Kingdom. Needless to say, the civilization’s top dogs didn’t roll up their sleeves and do the work themselves. So who did?

Like the pyramids, the tombs of the Valley of the Kings were built by skilled labourers and artisans, who came to the site in the Theban Mountains every day from Deir el-Medina, a specially-built village that lay just south of the valley within easy walking distance. Founded at the earliest during the reign of Thutmosis I (c. 1506-1493 BC) Deir el-Medina’s ancient name was Set Maat which translates as “The Place of Truth”. The workmen themselves were known as “Servants in the Place of Truth”.

They were a mixture of Egyptians, Nubians and Asiatics from across the kingdom, each free citizens. The artisans were middle-class and among the most skilled stone-cutters, plasterers, architects and alike in Egypt. Supporting them was a team of manual workers – water-carriers and cooks – as well as their wives and families, and those involved in the administration and decoration of the tombs and temples. The artisans would be organised into two groups: gangs on left and right, who worked almost like a ship’s crew simultaneously on opposite sides of the tomb, while being overseen by a foreman.

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

Bloomsbury Summer School

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

Luxor News Blog (Jane Akshar)

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

Fortrean Times (Christine Quigley)

Mummies in 19th-Century America
Author: SJ Wolfe, with Robert Singerman
Publisher: McFarland, 2009

A intriguing study of a commodity used as display, currency and medicine – and faked using swaddled dead tramps…

What is almost as good as seeing an ancient Egyptian mummy in an American museum? This book. The ransacking of ancient Egypt­ians – and their antiquities – was shameful, but it makes for great reading.

SJ Wolfe, of the American Antiquarian Society, does a remarkable job of cataloguing and describing the importation of the coffins and their contents from the arrival of the first one in 1823.

Mummies captivate us, and they were no less captivating to those in the 19th century who were seeing them for the first time. Then, the venue was not a museum and the exhibit was not appropriately contextualised. Instead, it was the front window of a candy or clothing store in a bid for more business, and the customers it drew were sometimes allowed to touch the mummy.

Mummies were brought over from Egypt to preside over a charity event or to reside in a library. They dramatised the exotic in dime museums, confirmed the pseudo-scientific in phrenology circles, and were the centre of attention at public lectures and private “unrollings”. They were sought by a president (Grover Cleveland) and by the father of a presidential assassin (Junius Brutus Booth).

Wolfe has ferreted out handfuls of period ads, illustrations, and quotes from contemporary magazines and newspapers to show the ways these travellers from the Old World were made to serve in the New World.

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

Researchers at Canada’s Queen’s University have been working on the most seemingly harmless of technologies, board games. They are taking a little different approach from the Microsoft Surface gaming project though.

By using a projector and a camera mounted above the table, gamers would be able to move panels around and interact with the environment. Even the way a player moves the panels would influence the action of the game. The video shows troops being deployed from a craft to the shore simply by tilting the tile towards the designated area. While the current system is limited to the ceiling mounted projector, future versions could use OLED or E-Ink style media as that technology matures. I have to admit the though of playing Risk on this system definitely appeals to me.

[via Crave]

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